Yurok language
Spoken in
- Algische languages Yurok
-
Nai
Yurok ( Karok: " downstream " self- designation: saa'agoch ) is the language of the same tribe, which today (2008) is spoken by more than 10 speakers as their mother tongue. This language is one of the endangered languages .
- 4.1 noun
- 4.2 pronouns
- 4.3 verbs 4.3.1 verb classes
- 4.3.2 Unipersonale flexion
- 4.3.3 Passive
- 5.1 Interrogativsätze
Classification
The Yurok is grouped with the extinct in the 60s of the 20th century to Ritwan Wiyot language family. This together with the Algonquian languages in turn form the Algische language family. While the classification of algischen languages is commonly recognized, the postulation of Ritwan language family is controversial.
Geographical distribution
The language was originally spoken in the entire tribal territory of the Yurok, which was located in the northwest of the U.S. State of California and to stretched from the mouth of the Trinity River along the Klamath River to its mouth in the Pacific Ocean. The few remaining speakers today live in the area around the city of Klamath at the mouth of the river of the same name.
Phonetics and phonology
Consonants
The Yurok does not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants. Crucial importance, however, may be whether a consonant is glottalisiert or not. In the debate, the glottalized approximants / l ɻ j ɰ w / beat the vocal cords easily against each other, it creates a " creaking " noise. Glottalized plosives are phonetically realized as most ejectives.
Vowels
The r can be used both as a vowel ( IPA: ɚ ( ː ) ) occur, as well as a consonant ( ɻ ). The non- closed vowels are subject to an optional vowel harmony.
Font
The Yurok has not developed in-house writing. In the current linguistic research transcription is used with the Latin alphabet, with
- / ɬ / as
, - / x / as
- / ɚ / and / ɻ / as
- Lengthened vowels twice (for example, / e :/ as
/ ɚ ː / as etc. ) - / tʃ / as
or - Glottalisierungen as apostrophe <' >
Be written.
The remaining letters correspond in their phonological realizations of the European standard.
Note: A character is embedded in slashes ( / x / ) symbolizes a phoneme, pointed bracketed character (
Phonological features
In Yurok may lead to vowel harmony optional on certain vowels. For verbs, for example, while the vowel of certain inflectional becomes a rhotic schwa: The ending- ek 'marks 1st person singular (see also unipersonale verb inflection, below). Appended to a verbal stem, which contains a rhotic vowel, this is to - rk ':
- Mrmryrw ( to look good ') ek ' (, 1sg ') → mrmryrwrk ' (' I look good ')
Morphology
The Yurok has a very rich Verbflexionsmorphologie, while other parts of speech are scarcely inflected.
Noun
Nouns in the Yurok are not inflected usually, neither case nor by number. Only a very small number of nouns have separate plural forms, but which are rarely used by the speakers themselves. Whether it therefore is a proper noun to the plural or singular form, the listener from the context or on the basis of verbal inflection must open up.
Noun, unlike pronouns, can be specified with a pronominal Klitikum beyond. These clitics have the function of Possessoren. There are four persons, the fourth person has the meaning of " any " and can only be used with certain so -called " inalienablen " noun. These nouns are Verwandtschaftsbezeichner as "husband", " grandparent ", " son ", but also selected body parts such as "eye" or " arm ", but interestingly not cheek, the Yurok word for "face". These inalienablen noun the clitics are obligatory for all others, the alien variables class of nouns that clitics are optional.
The two forms for third person are in complementary distribution. (Ie, k, k ', kw, k'w, m, p, p', w, or the noun begins with a labial or velar consonant w ), is 'u - used in all other cases ' we-.
Previously controversial is the status of clitics, while some authors analyze these as prefixes, they treat other authors as genuine clitics. The latter supports the fact that they can also be attached to verbs. An argument for the affix - hypothesis is that its presence on the verb has a significant influence on the inflection of the verb.
Pronoun
Personal pronouns in Yurok mark person and number of their speakers.
These pronouns, such as all types of nominal word are not in kasusmarkiert Yurok, that is, the subject molds and the shapes of objects are always the same. With one exception: if the object in the first or second person singular is, and the subject is third person singular or plural, then the form will take nek nekac or takes the form ke'l kelac used.
Verbs
In contrast to the other parts of speech, verbs show the Yurok rich inflectional. The verbs are inflected not doing according to tense or aspect. In addition to the possibility of leaving uninflected verbs, there are two Flexionsarten that unipersonale and bipersonale.
When unipersonalen Flexionsart the verbs inflect only for the subject, at the bipersonalen by subject and ( direct ) object. It should be noted that the Flexionsart is not bound to the valence of the verb, that is, ( di - ) transitive verbs can be inflected as well as unipersonal bipersonal. Intransitive verbs inflect the other hand, always unipersonal.
Furthermore, there are three Hauptflexionsklassen, one of which can be divided into further sub- classes in the Yurok. In addition, there are a number of irregularly inflected verbs.
Verb classes
The three Hauptflexionsklassen the Yurok'schen verb inflection are called according to the characterizing them are topics vowels, e, a, and o- class. The A class consists of five verb roots and forms the smallest class of regular verbs. The o- class verbs are divided into two classes, with a class as o- class, which is another called oo- class. The oo- class verbs in turn are divided into three classes, which frequently place them in accordance with Juliett Blevins (2005) semantic and morphosyntactic properties Transitive ( Trns ), locative ( Loc ) and Others ( Oth ) are called. Robins (1958 ) divided the two O classes in type 1 ( o- class) and type 2 ( oo- class), without differentiating further in the latter.
Unipersonale flexion
The 3rd person singular forms of e - type and 1- o- class verbs exist only glottalisiert of a feature and can be realized as follows: Does the verb stem on a plosive or affricate one, this is realized as Ejektiv. All other stem final consonants are realized with a glottal plosive upstream, at the Glottalisierung vowels is realized as glottal plosive after the vowel. Already in the lexicon präglottalisierte sounds remain unchanged in this position.
Passive
The passive forms of the Yurok only distinguish between e - and o- class verbs. The 5 A-class verb stems are used exclusively intransitive and therefore can not be passivated. The following table summarizes the Flexionsmarker the passive forms together. The V stands for the theme vowel is e- class verbs e, in o- class verbs corresponding to o.
Bipersonale flexion
In the bipersonalen inflection of the verb is inflected object both by subject and by ( direct ). The possibility of bipersonalen flexion exists only with verbs of the e - and o- class. Verbs of a class occur only unipersonal. In bipersonalen Flexionsart further there is no longer a distinction between the two types of the o- class.
The following table summarizes the inflectional endings together. As in the above tables is the V here for a thematic vowel, the Verbklassenabhängig / e / ( verbs of the e - class) or / o / ( o two classes) is. If the object is in the second person, the / e / vowel - topics of the e- class verbs is replaced by an / i /.
Empty cells of the paradigm be replaced by forms with Reflexivmarkern in spoken Yurok. With X.uni labeled cells by pressing the relevant proposition from a form of unipersonalen paradigm. A special feature are the cells marked in the table with X.pass dar. In such a form, instead of a transparent extension used which is homophonic with the corresponding passive forms. Such phenomena are often analyzed in the descriptive literature as inverse systems.
Other morphological features of verbal inflection
Yurok verbs can be extended in certain syntactic contexts by a pronominal affix, which (ie the beginning) is appended to the left edge of the verb. This usually congruent with the subject, but / object constellations can be congruent with the object in some subject also. Such affixation has incidentally affect the inflexions of the verb.
In unipersonalen paradigm when the subject is singular, all inflectional homonym with the ending of the first person. The congruence of the verb agrees with the subject that is displayed in these cases, only the pronominal prefix. This is not true when the subject is plural.
In bipersonalen paradigm when the singular subject and the object is not in the first person, the inflectional endings are also homonymous with the corresponding 1sg -subject forms. The form for the second person singular subject, third person singular object is then to be expected, for example, to K'e ( strain) - V.sec 'instead of * K'e ( strain) - Vse'm. This shift can also be observed in the forms, where in the non- pronominalisierten form instead of a transparent ending a passivated ending is added to the verb. Thus, from the non- pronominalisierten form (master ) Vye'm a verb whose subject is in the 3rd person singular and object in the second person singular, in the form pronominalisierten to 'ne ( root ) Vcek ', according to the 1sg: 2SG form. Again, the effect does not occur when the subject is plural, or the object to the first person.
In recent years, this property of the language is increasingly become the subject of morphological research, since it provides a challenge to many existing models on flexion and inverse systems.
It is disputed whether this to be the same clitics in the pronouns that are attached to the verb, which are also attached to nouns Possession view or are autonomous affixes.
Pre- verbal particles
Tense, aspect, and a number of other properties (for example, negation, and also that which is realized in languages other than adpositions ) are characterized by pre -verbal particles in the Yurok, that short words that are in the block before the main verb. Robins (1958, 96 ff ) lists 49 basic particles which are strung together in certain groups and combined. The table below shows some examples of pre -verbal particles:
Many of these particles have different meanings depending on the semantic or syntactic context. Such is the importance of co ' " polite request" if the verb is in the indicative or is uninflected, otherwise it raises cornification a temporal aspect. Follow it to the question particle kus, it loses its meaning.
Syntax
Yurok is basically an SVO language, but which also allows relatively free word order patterns. Robins (1958 ) results in some generalizations, to some of which there are exceptions:
- The position of nominal subject and verb can vary, for example helome'y ku ku pegrk or pegrk helome'y, " The man dances"
- But can also be omitted (pro- drop language ), for example Tmoolok '. , "I 'll shoot ."
- Objects follow the verb ku pegrk no p'e'n mewihl, " The man chased the moose " ( lit. "th man er.jagt moose ?").
- In any case, the subject is progressing the object.
Interrogativsätze
In Yurok two types are principally distinguished from interrogative sentences: ruling, responding to the usually with Yes and No, and supplementary questions, which are introduced in the German translation usually with an interrogative pronouns ( who, how, why, whose, etc. ). Ruling sets are marked by the particle hes in Yurok, all other interrogative sentences by the particles kus. In combination with other particles ( see above) that He asked can be specified. Thus results kus before Lokativpartikel ni mutatis mutandis, the question word " where ". Usually this question particles are at the beginning of a sentence.